Clare Cup Rd 9

IN a repeat of last year’s Clare Champion Cup final, Newmarket turned the tables on neighbours and great rivals, Sixmilebridge on Saturday morning at O’Garney Park.The result ended Sixmilebridge’s involvement in this year’s title race but has kept the Blues in contention for the title.The home side’s hopes weren’t helped by the fact they lost Niall Gilligan after 25 minutes with a hamstring injury. Earlier, defender Robert Conlon had been replaced due to injury, while, in the second half, they lost corner-back Tadhg Keogh with a shoulder injury.That said, they weren’t able to match the play of the visitors, who had some excellent individual performances from Stephen Kelly at full-back and Alan Barrett in the half-back line in particular.Newmarket raced into a five-point lead after 10 minutes with four scores coming from frees by Colin Ryan and one from Martin Murphy. The game was 12 minutes old before the home side opened their account.At half-time the score was 0-8 to 0-5 in the winners’ favour but it should have been more as Newmarket had wasted some good scoring opportunities.The margin was still the same at the three-quarter stage after both sides had added three points. Five minutes later, Newmarket struck a vital blow when Enda Kelly got the all-important touch for their goal.Sixmilebridge fought back and Caimin Morey struck for a goal with five minutes remaining but it came too late to break the visitors’ dominance and Newmarket held on for a merited victory.Stephen Kelly was outstanding at full-back, while the half-back line of the Barrett brothers, Alan and Enda, and centre-back James McInerney dominated. Noel Frawley impressed at wing-forward.Sixmilebridge struggled in a lot of positions on a day when Paidi Fitzpatrick, Caimin Morey and Shane Golden got through some good work.

CRUSHEEN kept up their push for a place in the semi-final of the Clare Champion Cup with a victory over Tulla on Friday. They got off to a dream start with a goal from Patrick O’Grady after just 20 seconds and this goal helped them to a half-time lead of nine points, with the score standing at 1-12 to 0-6.Tulla fought back in the second half when they managed to keep Crusheen to just five points, while tagging on eight. However, they were unable to score the goal they needed to have a chance of coming out on top and Crusheen deservedly held on for victory.

CLOONEY-Quin completed their Clare Champion Cup campaign on a winning note. Clarecastle scored the first three points through Tyrone Kearse, Kieran O’Dwyer and Jonathon Clancy but Clooney-Quin hit back strongly and scored eight points without reply from Dara Hannon, Sean Conheady, Mike Daffy, Padraig Ward (four) and Martin Duggan on their way to a half-time lead of 0-11 to 0-4.The Magpies scored the first three points of the second half but an Adrian Fleming goal at the three-quarter stage put Clooney in the driving seat and they went on to stretch their advantage to 1-17 to 0-9. Substitute Sean Talty goaled for the Magpies and followed with another from Tyrone Kearse but points from Padraig Ward and substitute Ruairi McNamara sealed victory for Clooney-Quin.

WHEN Inagh-Kilnamona led by two points, 0-10 to 0-8, at half-time, having played against the breeze, they were in a strong position in their tie played on Saturday evening. The game was cancelled a few weeks earlier due to a flooded pitch.Cathal Lafferty struck for the winners’ goal midway through the second half and while Brian Lynch replied with a like score for the visitors soon afterwards, the home side held on for a merited win.The return of Declan Murphy to the Tulla line-up is a huge boost to the East Clare men and he is expected to feature prominently in their side for the upcoming championship games.

ÉIRE Óg caused a surprise in Division 2B of the Clare Champion Cup last Friday evening when they recorded a merited win over previously unbeaten Kilmaley at the latter’s venue.However, despite the defeat, Kilmaley are still through to the semi-final, as they have a superior score difference to Éire Óg and Ruan after the three teams finished on the same points total.The result means Ruan will have to spend another year in Division 2B, as Éire Óg have finished ahead of them on score difference, which will see them promoted along with Kilmaley. Ruan had beaten Kilmaley in the opening round of the competition.Éire Óg travelled to Kilmaley knowing that anything other than victory would see them stay in the division for another term. They took the game to the favourites from the start and were well on their way to victory at half-time when they held a nine-point advantage with the score at 1-13 to 1-4. Thomas Downes scored the winners’ first goal before half-time and Ronan Keane added a second midway through the second half.Éire Óg: Kevin Brennan; Cathal Whelan, Cormac O’Regan, Kevin Hally; Tadhg McNamara, Fergus Flynn, Kevin Moynihan; Mark Fitzgerald, Marc O’Donnell; Ronan Keane, Adrian Walsh, Danny Russell; Barry Nugent, John Lawlor, Thomas Downes.Sub: David Ryan for Lawlor.Kilmaley: Kieran Dillon; Martin O’Connor, Anthony Cahill, Colin McGuane; Conor McMahon, Alan Markham, Noel Casey; Colin Lynch, Ken Kennedy; Daire Keane, Diarmuid McMahin, John Cabey; Niall McGuane, Declan Clancy, Eoin O’Malley.Subs: Sean Talty for C McMahon (inj), Seamus Hurley for Clancy, John Clohessy for Cabey and Michael O’Neill for O’Malley.